This invention relates to an article of clothing which carries a three dimensional molded pattern.
It is currently common place to decorate a T shirt with printed material generally by a silk screening process. These T shirts are widely used and represent a very large volume of business. Some examples of the uses of this technique are advertising and promotion, souvenirs related to tourist attractions, amusing slogans, souvenirs relating to rock bands and other designs which are proposed to appeal to the individual purchasing the shirt. The wide variety of possible materials has led to a very large and wide range in sales for this product.
Up to date, however, the images have simply been two dimensional images provided by a silk screen process. Two dimensional images are of course limited by the very nature of their two dimensional scope. Human beings exist in and experience a three dimensional universe.
It is one object of the present invention, however, to provide a further improvement to the images available to give opportunity to the imaginative designer to provide yet further effects which will appeal to various wearers.
According to the invention, therefore, there is provided an article of clothing comprising a fabric layer arranged to lie flat against the body of a wearer and a three dimensional molded plastic pattern attached to the fabric layer, said pattern including a substantially planar base layer attached to said fabric layer and a relief pattern extending outwardly from the fabric layer defining at least one hollow area between the fabric and the relief pattern.
The existence of the third dimension provided by the relief pattern gives further opportunity for improved designs and important new effects. The present invention provides the imaginative designer with a new frontier in design opportunities by permitting designs which exploit the possibility of 3-D effects. These designs will spawn a new generation of effects which will appeal to various wearers. The invention thus provides a molded three dimensional article comprising a base layer which is substantially planar and one or more relief patterns which are molded to project upwardly therefrom defining a hollow area underneath the pattern. The base layer including a disc of material surrounding the patterns is then attached to the fabric by adhesive, sewing, heat fusion or welding, or other less permanent techniques such as Velcro (trade mark).
The molded pattern can be combined with various other materials such as a printed pattern by the conventional silk screening process surrounding the relief pattern. In addition the hollow area can be used to house batteries, electronics, components such as light emitting diodes, speakers and the like so that the pattern can be used in conjunction with lighting, sound or other effects which will enhance the design.
The molded plastic article provided by the base layer and the relief pattern is preferably formed by injection molding or reaction injection molding from a suitably formed mold. Other molding techniques such as blow molding, vacuum forming, rotational molding or die cast molding can be used for patterns of limited complexity and detail.
In the injection molding process, the initial pattern or master mold can be formed by a vapour deposition process of the type known as nickel vapor forming or other deposition techniques including electrolytic deposition. These techniques can be used to develop a mold having very high detail including the possibility of such fine details as fingerprints, fingernails and the like or other skin textures.
The use of flexible plastics material in the molding technique can allow complex molded patterns which overcome technical difficulties in the "line of draw" or "undercut" of the molded article so as to yield new possibilities in the shape and design of the article.
The material to be molded is preferably of an elastic nature such that the relief pattern formed by the molding technique is elastically compressible to allow it to be comfortably worn by a wearer. That is, the physical properties of the molded article give it a resilience such that it is capable of being deformed by a given stress and upon termination of said stress the molded article will return to its original form without cracking, breaking, loss of shape etc. The thickness and material of the base layer is chosen so that it can structurally support the relief pattern while substantially retaining its planar shape so that the pattern can be attached to the fabric of a shirt without causing or undue deformation of the fabric.
The hollow nature of the molded article ensures that it is of sufficiently light weight generally less than 5 ounces so that it will not cause deformation of the fabric or the article of clothing.
Preferably the base layer is attached to the fabric by a technique which ensures its permanent attachment but involves only upper fibres of the fabric layer so that the fabric retains its fibrous nature on the inner surface for engaging the skin of the wearer. In some cases simple sewing of the base to the fabric around its periphery may be acceptable. The attachment by way of the disc portion surrounding the relief pattern or patterns ensures that a portion of the fabric underneath the relief patterns remains unaffected and hence can contact the skin of the wearer without any detrimental or uncomfortable effect.
One example of an article according to the present invention is shown in the attached drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of an article of apparel according to the invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view along the lines 2--2 of FIG. 1.